Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to cry in the Commons as Sir Keir Starmer declined to guarantee she would remain in place until the election.
The Prime Minister faced MPs after being forced to scrap key planks of his welfare reforms, leaving an almost £5 billion black hole in Ms Reeves’ spending plans and fuelling speculation she could be forced to hike taxes.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and challenged the Prime Minister to say whether the Chancellor would keep her job until the next election.
Sir Keir dodged the question about whether Ms Reeves would be in place for the remainder of the Parliament, saying Mrs Badenoch “certainly won’t”.
The Tory leader said: “How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
Despite the Prime Minister not backing her in the Commons, Downing Street insisted she was “going nowhere” and had Sir Keir’s “full backing”.
Asked about Ms Reeves’ tears, a spokesman for the Chancellor said it was a “personal matter”.
Changes to restrict eligibility to the personal independence payment (Pip) were abandoned on Tuesday night to limit a Labour revolt, wiping out the savings that Ms Reeves had counted on to help meet her goal of funding day-to-day spending through tax receipts rather than borrowing.
Mrs Badenoch said the welfare reforms were designed “to plug a black hole created by the Chancellor” but “instead they’re creating new ones”.
She told Sir Keir: “Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the Chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence.
“In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”
Sir Keir responded with a defence of Labour’s record but no mention of the Chancellor’s position.
As the Chancellor left the Commons following the Prime Minister’s Questions session her sister Ellie Reeves took her hand in an apparent show of support.
Labour has promised that income tax, employee national insurance contributions and VAT will not be increased, restricting Ms Reeves’ options for raising money if she does look to hike taxes.
Mrs Badenoch asked Sir Keir to reassure “frightened” people by “ruling out tax rises in the autumn budget”.
Sir Keir replied: “She knows that no Prime Minister or Chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ incoming director Helen Miller said: “Since departmental spending plans are now effectively locked in, and the Government has already had to row back on planned cuts to pensioner benefits and working-age benefits, tax rises would look increasingly likely.
“This will doubtless intensify the speculation over the summer about which taxes may rise and by how much.”
Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: “Tax rises are on the way to pay for Labour’s mismanagement of the economy.
“Hard-working families will have an agonising summer waiting to hear how Rachel Reeves will claw back the cash to make up for the failings of this weak Prime Minister.”
